“Apple is subject to the same tax laws as scores of other international companies doing business in Ireland,” the company said in a statement. “Apple pays every euro of every tax that we owe. Since the iPhone launched in 2007, our taxes in Ireland have increased tenfold. Apple is proud to have been doing business in Cork, Ireland, since 1980.”

Every country, state, province, and county in the world offers tax breaks to big companies in hopes they will open businesses in their area. All of the people complaining about Ireland would line up to offer Apple incentives to relocate to their towns. This is just silly.

http://globallyattuned.com/ Monty Wuggy

And therein lies the problem; that everyone would be willing to do it. Hopefully under Cook’s leadership Apple becomes a more philanthropic organisation. He certainly doesn’t seem like the callous, abrasive man Jobs was.

Moeskido

You mean publicly philanthropic, right?

David

How do higher taxes = more philanthropy?

matthewmaurice

Compared to what some states and municipalities, especially in the US South, are doing, Apple’s Irish tax “deal” is nothing (see: http://www.itep.org/pdf/taxincentiveeffectiveness.pdf). The worst part is that these states are “giving away the store” in the effort to attract jobs which just means that those workers have to make up the tax revenue lost.

http://www.laugh-eat.com/ kyron

agreed, but where in the south are you referring to? i live in the deep south and we are not known for our industry. about the only subsidy i can think of is Louisiana’s film tax credits….

The workers aren’t necessarily the ones generating that tax revenue that has to be made up; I’m one county over in Tennessee from where Nissan is located (it’s in Franklin, I’m in Nashville), and the area around their buildings has practically exploded, with lots of new office parks, hotels, retail, and restaurants being built. There’s a LOT of money flowing thru that area, the average worker isn’t being asked to bear the burden.

Tribble

Simple solution, if you are not happy with the level of tax a business is paying stop whining about it and change the tax laws that they are following.

No one, either an individual or a multinational is obliged either legally or morally to pay any more in tax than is legally proscribed in law.